Display and like devices



' Nov. `24, 1959 w.`G.`HORTON 2,913,841

- DISPLAY AND vLIKE DEVICES Filed sept. 2 1. 195s u n ooooolo United States Patent O n Claims priority, application Great Britain October 4, 1955 Y y 1 Claim. (Cl. 40-63) This invention relates to display devices which: comprise a rectangular plate with a plurality of smilarperforations therethrough, which can be regularly spaced and arranged in columns and/ or rows to form a display surface, or to support sections of a display surface, which surface and/ or sections of a `display surface are adapted detachably to receive and retain indicating means of various forms, colour and dimensions.

In general, in accordance with the presentinvention the plateis supplemented by sect-ions of a displayl surface constituted by channel members each comprising alongitudinal rectangular strip of stiff material, preferably metal, of desired length and width, with at least one of its longer edges turned over to forma narrow channel'of desired depth, the strip being formed with, or having `secured thereto, at least two hooks or other 'perforationengaging members whichv project from its.v rear surface, by which it is mounted on the display surface to extend horizontally across such surface or vertically down such surface in any desired dened positions to maintain registered vertical and horizontal alignment.

Patented ANov.'24,- 1959 "ice t Fig. 8 is a side elevation of Fig. 7 to illustrate the method of holding the plate on a wall.

Fig. 9 is a perspective View to a small scale of a series of channel members as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, arranged horizontally on a supporting plate such as shown in Fig. 7, and

Fig. 10 is a similar view to Fig. 9 but with'the channel members arranged vertically.

rIn Fig. .1 the channel member is made from. a long rectangular strip 11 of sheet metal of desired gauge with one longer edge bent up to form a channel 12. At its rear it has towards each end and in a central position, a hook 13 attached by welding. In some cases these hooks could be struck up from the material of the strip =11 by stamping. The portion of the strip 14 which comes to the rear of the channel is joggled a-t 15 as shown in Fig. 2. In some cases, however, it may be without this joggling, as shown in Fig. 3. v

in Figs. 1 and 2, the strip 11 has a regular pattern of perforations therethrough comprising rectangular slots 16 arranged spaced apart in horizontal rows and similar slots 17 arranged at the same spacing invert-ical columns, the slots 16 and 17 defining imaginary squares; in practical constructions these squares have a side measuring 1/2". As will be seen from Figs. 1 and 2, one row of slots 16 is located at the bend of the channel.

A rectangular supporting plate 18 for the channel members is shown in Figs. 7 and 8 formed from light-gauge metal with main and auxiliary flanges at its four edges and cut-away corners, the construction constituting four hook-like supports 19, one at each edge, by which it can be suspended variously on a flanged wall rail 20. In some y cases, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 8, its lower The .channel is to receive indicating meansof suitable stiff or flexible material of various colours and sizes. These indicating means, when rectangular, can be of varied lengths and heights. They can also be set and retained in specific positions in the channel.

In preferred cases the channel strip also has a desired y arrangement and pattern of perforations, which may be similar to that of the display plate. By this means not only can the setting of the channel strip in various defined positions on the display surface be facilitated, but the perforations in the channel strip can be utilised for the setting of `the indicating means to be carried thereby, and in some cases even the perforations'in the channel strip may themselves carry indicating means vsimilar to those normally displayed or to be displayed onv the perforated display surface itself. j

:In order that the invention may be better understood, it will no w be described with reference to the accompanying somewhat diagrammatic drawings which are given by way of `example only and in which:V

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of one form'of channel member in accordance with the invention. 'i

Fig. 2 is a sectional end elevation of Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is an end elevationof another somewhat similar embodiment to that shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a portion of another embodiment of a channel member in accordance with the invention. v

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a portion of a still further embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view to a smaller scale of the channel member shown in Figs. 1 and 2, with indicators positioned in the channel thereof.

Fig. 7 shows a front elevation to a still smaller scale of a perforated rectangular plate for the support of channel members according to the invention.

support 19 can also engage an additional wall rail 21.

i The upper part of Fig. 7 shows one method of perforation that may be adopted. This consists of three vertical rows of perforations, 22 and 23 near the edges and 24 centrally. These are so disposed that the hooks 13 of a channel member (Figs. l and 2), which extends from side to. side of the plate 18, enter horizontally aligned slots 22, 23 and 24.

The lower part of Fig. 7 shows another method of perforation that may be adopted. In this there are hori zontal slots 25 and vertical slots 26 arranged to bound imaginary squares and similar in their pattern and arrangement to those shown in Fig. l.

By utilising plates with the method of perforation shown in the lower part of Fig. 7 with the correct disposition of the hooks 13, the Vertical and horizontal imaginary squares dened by the slots 16 and 17 on the one hand and 25 and 26 on the other hand, can be brought into registration.

The fragmentary elevation of Fig. 4 shows another method of perforating a channel member in accordance with the invention. |In this case there are horizontally and vertically spaced circular apertures 27 through the material and it will be observed that one horizontal row comes at the bend of the channel.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary elevation showing a still further method of perforating the channel member. Here the perforations 28 are cruciform and the spacing and'` disposition similar to the spacing and disposition of the perforations 16 and 17 as shown in Fig. l.

Fig. 6 shows how a longitudinally extending channel member with perforations such as shown in Figs. l and 2. can be utilised. To the left-hand side there is shown an indicating member 29 of desired length and colour, the height of which above the channel is substantially similar to the depth of the channel. This can be disposed in the channel in any required position and its position xed or registered by the vertical slots 17. To the rightlhand side of Fig. 6 there is shown another indicator 30 which has theword I une printed or otherwise displayed thereon. This can be of any colour and length and with a desired height above the channel. The indication can be as desired in accordance with the particular information being dealt with in the display. in some cases, in addition to the channel itself forming the means by which the indicating means is held in position, the indicating means itself may have projections or lugs which engage the perforations 16 coming at the bend of the channel. Fig. 6 shows an example of this where 31 is the indicating means of desired dimensions which has two projections or lugs 32 for engaging two of the horizontal slots 16 comi-ng at the bend of the channel. Obviously, there need only be one lug or there could be more than two lugs and, further, the indicator 31 can have any desired length.

When devices as shown in Figs. l, 2, 4 and 5, that is, devices having joggled parts 15, are to be disposed on the perforated plates 18, they can be arranged to overlap; that is to say, the upper part 14 of one can come behind the lower-hook-like channel part of the device above. On the other hand, they need not overlap but the upper edge of the upper part of one device can corne at the level of the lower part of the channel of the device above.

The arrangement will be in accordance with the display desired and obviously the hooks and relative dimensions are such as to permit these two arrangements to be given effect to.

It is obvious that devices in accordance with the invention lend themselves to a great variety of displays which will vary in accordance with the information it is desired to convey.

One example is shown at the upper part of Fig. 9. In 'this` arrangement the six uppermost channel members are shown mounted in overlapping arrangement. The uppermost of these six in dened positions has mounted in the channel thereof three indicating means, one bearing the indication June, the next July and the next Aug The next ve lower channel members carry at the lefthand side indicating means having the names of capital cities thereon and beneath the indications June, July and Aug have indicating means in each channel giving various numbers coming in alignment with the names of the capital cities.

Below these six uppermost channel members in Fig. 9 areA two other channel members shown in non-overlapping arrangement, the lower carrying two indicating means. v

In place of the hooks 13 of the indicating members shown in Fig. 9 engaging in the apertures 22, 23 and 24, they may engage in the horizontal slots of the plate if it is furnished with this arrangement of slots. The lower part of Fig. 9 shows such an arrangement and it is desired to point out that if the plate has this arrangement of perforations then a combined display can be built up from indicators carried by channel members and other indicators carried by the slots of the plate 18 itself. Further, it should be appreciated that the channel members can be adjusted from one position to another, that is, moved laterally or vertically with respect to other chan- 4 nel members, to produce what may be regarded as a slide rule effect for any particular system of charting.

Fig. 10 shows another arrangement for mounting the channel members 11 on a perforated plate 18, in this case the plate being turned through a right angle before being suspended to bring the rows of perforations 22, 23 and 2.4 horizontal. channel members arranged vertically. The four to the left are in overlapping relation and the openings of the channels come on the right-hand side. The ve on the right of the figure are in non-overlapping arrangement andthe channels face towards the left. ln place of the arrangement of apertures to be engaged by the hooks of the channel members, shown in Fig. 10, these apertures could be replaced by horizontal and vertical slots 25 and 26.

According to a modification, in place of hook-like projections such as 13 being formed integral with or attached to the channel members, they can `be separate therefrom.

In such a case, clip-like members are provided to pass through suitable slots in the channel member and to engage in perforations in the carrying plate. By using two or more such separate clip-like members it will be realised that a channel member can be mounted to extend laterally or vertically in any desired position on the perforated plate.

In some cases the whole or a part or parts of the upper longer edge of the channel member can also be bent over to constitute a channel and to act to retain indicating means located between the two channels.

The invention is not limited to the precise forms or details herein set forth, as these may be varied to suit particular requirements.

What I claim is:

A display device comprising a perforated plate, a plurality of sections of a display surface, each section containing a I arge number of perforations adapted to receive attaching lugs of indicating members and being formed by a at longitudinal substantially rectangular strip of stiff material with at least one of its longer edges bent round to form a narrow channel at the front, and a plurality of means for securing each section independently of any other section to the perforated plate, each means being adapted to engage at least one perforation of the perforated plate, the perforations in the perforated plate being regularly spaced and arranged and each of said sections of a display surface being similarly perforated whereby when any one of said sections is mounted on said perforated plate the perforations thereof coincide with the perforations in said perforated plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 972,302 Waller Oct. 1l, 1910 1,329,536 MacDonagh Feb. 3, 1920 1,795,171 Horton Mar. 3, 1931 2,111,780 Horton Mar. 22, 1938 2,551,539 Horton May 1, 1951 2,608,012 Jackson Aug.l 26, 1952 2,769,553 Horton Nov. 6, 1956 Fig. 10 shows two arrangements of the 

